Baton Rouge Advocate
By Gerard Shields
July 5, 2009

“When U.S. Sen. David Vitter recently heard that Louisiana colleague U.S. Rep. Charles ‘Charlie’ Melancon is considering challenging him for his seat next year, the Louisiana Republican wasted little time in going on the attack.

‘It was widely reported that President (Barack) Obama and congressional liberals have talked one of their most dependable southern votes, Charlie Melancon, into challenging me for the United States Senate,’ Vitter wrote in a plea for campaign funds…

If Melancon needed any indication of how his opponents would come after him, he got it in the Vitter e-mail. Republicans point out that Melancon voted for the bailout of the nation’s financial institutions, the $800 billion ‘stimulus’ spending plan of Obama and the president’s budget.

‘President Obama’s close ally Charlie Melancon voted with him on every one of these crucial issues,’ Vitter said.

Then there is the ‘card check’ bill. Melancon co-sponsored the House legislation that would allow labor unions to form by getting signatures from workers outside the traditional method of having a secret ballot.

Employers have said the change would apply more open pressure on workers to sign a petition form.

‘This is a right to work state,’ said Bernie Pinsonat a pollster with Southern Media and Opinion Research. ‘He can’t be considered a moderate Democrat anymore.’ …”

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